Language   

Three Chords and the Truth

Ry Cooder
Language: English


Ry Cooder

List of versions



[2007]
Scritta da Ry Cooder ed il figlio Joachim, musicista polistrumentista
Nell’album intitolato “My Name Is Buddy: Another Record by Ry Cooder”

I'm going to tell you a story right here.
You may not believe it.

I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night,
Standing in the prison yard,
They were taking poor Joe, chained and bound,
To a Utah firing squad.
Well he turned and looked at me right then,
Saying, don't you be misled,
They're trying to tear our free speech down,
And Buddy, they ain't near quit yet.
See, they framed me on a killing charge,
You know I wouldn't lie to you,
But the only crime here that I done was,
Three chords and the truth.

Three chords and the truth,
Three chords and the truth,
The only crime that Joe Hill done,
Was three chords and the truth.
He sang his old union songs,
He got his message through,
But they couldn't stand to hears a workingman sing,
Three chords and the truth.

Old J. Edgar Hoover liked to hear the darkies sing,
Till one man changed that all around,
Paul Robeson was a man that you couldn't ignore,
That's what drove J. Edgar down.
He called up his New York Klan boyfriends,
Saying, I got something good for you.
Get right down there to Peekskill, New York town,
And kill three chords and the truth.

Three chords and the truth,
Three chords and the truth,
The only crime you ever got from Paul,
Was three chords and the truth.
If this is the land of democracy,
I got one question for you,
Why wasn't Paul Robeson set free,
On three chords and the truth?

They took Pete Seeger before the law,
And put him on the witness stand,
But he stood right up to tyranny,
With just a banjo in his hand.
Such a righteous banjo picker,
Watching out for me and you.
That was just a man who wouldn't back down,
On three chords and the truth.

Three chords and the truth,
Three chords and the truth.
The only crime Pete Seeger done,
Was three chords and the truth.
He sang his freedom songs real good,
Still getting his message through.
Better check out old Pete Seeger,
On three chords and the truth.

Contributed by Bernart Bartleby - 2017/11/17 - 08:14


Andrebbe forse inserita nel percorso sulla guerra del lavoro...
Certamente in quello su Gatti & Gattacci, visto che il protagonista di questo disco di Ry Cooder è Buddy, un gatto rosso e viaggiatore...

B.B. - 2017/11/17 - 12:55




Main Page

Please report any error in lyrics or commentaries to antiwarsongs@gmail.com

Note for non-Italian users: Sorry, though the interface of this website is translated into English, most commentaries and biographies are in Italian and/or in other languages like French, German, Spanish, Russian etc.




hosted by inventati.org